Passive avoidence learning in the young rat.

A step-through locomotor passive avoidance task is described requiring the suppression of a spontaneous escape reaction from a cool toward a warm compartment in order to avoid an electric shock delivered in the warm side. We observed no lerning of this task at 9 days of age, a very low but significant level of acquisition at 11 days, a slow but progressive improvement of avoidance from the 13th until the 17th day when the adult capacity was achieved, and a marked increase in the rate between 17-20 days.